The granaries in Tongcheng and Chongyang were all looted.

According to the report from the soldier who reported the news, when the manager of the Wen family and the prefect Yu who was in charge of grain allocation arrived at the Wen family's granary in Tongcheng, they found that the guards guarding the granary had all been killed, and the grain in the granary had already been looted.

Tongcheng and Chongyang are not far apart. The manager of the Wen family was worried about the Chongyang granary, so he asked the prefect Yu to send someone to rush to the Chongyang granary to check. As a result, the Chongyang granary was in the same condition as Tongcheng. All the guards were killed and the granary was empty.

Yu Zhifu immediately ordered people to inquire about the surroundings, and then they learned that last night, bandits had come down from Fenghuang Mountain and were quite powerful. The common people did not dare to provoke the bandits and did not dare to pay much attention to them. They only knew that these bandits were indeed heading towards the granary.

However, there was no news from the granary the next day, so no one cared about it.

There have been many bandits in Huguang since ancient times. They roamed everywhere, robbing houses and even intercepting government money. Even if the government sent troops to suppress the bandits several times, it was difficult to completely eliminate them. It was just that this time the bandits robbed the granary without making any noise. The timing was too coincidental.

"As far as Lord Jiang knows, is this a coincidence or is someone behind this?" Yin Chengyu asked.

Jiang Zheng thought about it carefully and said, "I'm afraid it's mostly coincidence. Fenghuang Mountain is the main peak of Wangtuo Ridge. Wangtuo Ridge is east of Tuoshui River, winding and winding like a crouching snake. The mountain is steep and very dangerous. Many bandits hide in it. It is common for them to go down the mountain to rob when food and grass are insufficient. It has long become a major scourge in Huguang. As for the Wen family, as far as I know, because the Wen family has many wives, concubines and children, it is not peaceful. Let's say today's The young master Wen in front of him was born to the first wife of the Wen family. After the first wife died, the Wen family married a new wife and had several concubines and many children. The young master Wen was not favored and had no close relationship with the Wen family. Now that the Wen family was in trouble, he was pushed out to be the one who made the decision. I am afraid he can't wait to execute the Wen family and get himself out of the Wen family. It shouldn't be easy to cause more trouble."

Yin Chengyu listened, but did not agree or refute. He pondered for a moment and said, "All disaster relief matters will continue as previously discussed. As for the matter of the mountain bandits, I will handle it."

How many people could be saved by 20,000 dan of rice? The imperial court would never give up so easily.

After sending Jiang Zheng away, Yin Chengyu returned to the East Courtyard.

As soon as he reached the gate, he bumped into Xue Shu who was walking towards him. Xue Shu had obviously also received the news, and before Yin Chengyu could speak, he took the lead and said, "I have sent spies to the Phoenix Mountain area to inquire about the situation."

It took a whole day and a night to find out the news.

It was not until the evening of the second day that the spies came to report.

"The granary in Tongcheng Chongyang was indeed robbed by bandits, but it was not just the bandits from Phoenix Mountain who did it." said the spy.

Yin Chengyu figured it out: "Are there other bandits in Wangtuo Ridge?"

"According to my subordinates' investigation, there are at least five relatively large mountain strongholds in Wangtuo Ridge. There are Hualin Stronghold on Phoenix Mountain, Dongxiang Stronghold on Fairy Peak, Mana Stronghold on Purple Bamboo Peak, Black Cloud Stronghold on Stone Zhao Peak, Tangdong Stronghold on Wanshou Peak... In addition, there are dozens of small strongholds. The number of people ranges from thousands to hundreds. These bandits occupy the mountains and act as kings, responding to each other from afar. On weekdays, they act independently, but if they encounter a 'fat sheep' like the Wen family granary, they will act together. The one who robbed the granary this time was the leader of several large mountain strongholds."

"Have you found where the food is stored?"

"All the villages in Wangtuo Mountain respect Hualin Village as the most respected. The looted food is now stored in a stone cave on the southern slope of Fenghuang Mountain. It is heavily guarded. Currently, these bandits are discussing how to divide the food."

"The terrain of Wangtuo Ridge is complex. If we wait until the bandits have divided up the loot before sending out troops, it will be difficult to recover the food." Yin Chengyu looked at Xue Shu: "What do you think?"

"You can let He Shan and Ying Hongxue lead the troops. They have experience in fighting in the mountains." Xue Shu said.

Yin Chengyu thought the same, and immediately summoned He Shan, Ying Hongxue and the city guard lieutenant general to discuss the matter.

Yin Chengyu did not bring too many troops with him when he rushed to Huguang for disaster relief. Now, in order to send troops to suppress the bandits, he needed to transfer troops from Wuchang Prefecture.

The lieutenant general guarding the city was asked to cooperate with He Shan Ying Hongxue. They discussed in the study for two hours and decided on a strategy to suppress the bandits before they dispersed.

The next evening, just as it got dark, He Shan and Ying Hongxue, who had assembled three thousand soldiers, set out under the cover of darkness to reach Wangtuo Ridge. The Dongchang soldiers who had explored the way earlier went with them to act as scouts.

Yin Chengyu stayed in Wuchang Prefecture.

Looking at the team outside the city winding into a long dragon and gradually disappearing into the night, Yin Chengyu gathered his cloak and returned to the east courtyard of the government office to rest.

Because he had just been ill, Xue Shu was particularly concerned about his health. Under his urging, Yin Chengyu finally stopped working day and night and went to bed early.

Now, Xue Shu, under the pretext of serving him, stayed in his room openly, and it was warm at night.

It's just that these are turbulent times and it's impossible to sleep peacefully.

Before dawn, Yin Chengyu was awakened by the shouting and screaming outside. After waking up, he found that Xue Shu was not on the couch. He fumbled to light the candle, put on his clothes and got up to check, just as Xue Shu pushed the door open.

"What happened outside?"

Xue Shu blew out the candles, took the clothes hanging on the screen and quickly helped him put them on, explaining, "The bandits from Wang Tuoling have attacked the city and are heading towards the government office. I will take your Highness to hide first."

"They broke into the city?" Yin Chengyu was surprised: "How did they break into the city gate?"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he immediately reacted: "Is there an insider?"

The city gates would be closed every night. If bandits attacked the city, it would be impossible for them to easily break through the impregnable city gates.

Xue Shu hummed, "The soldiers at the east gate opened the city gate and let the bandits in. There are about five to six thousand of them. Most of the troops in the city have been deployed to suppress the bandits. Now there are only about two thousand left. They were caught off guard and it is difficult for them to reorganize and fight against the bandits."

As they were talking, Yin Chengyu had already put on his clothes. Xue Shu spread out his cloak and put it on him. Under the protection of the guards and under the cover of night, they quietly left the government office through the corner gate.

The group walked through the alley in the dark without lighting torches.

Yin Chengyu narrowed his eyes and looked at the twinkling lights of fire in the distance, and asked, "Have Jiang Zheng and the others retreated?"

"We have sent foreign soldiers to escort them to a temporary refuge." Now, only an empty shell remains in each government office.

"But now all the city gates are controlled by the bandits. They can't find anyone and will probably start searching the city soon." Xue Shu frowned and said in a deep voice, "These are not ordinary bandits. They work in harmony and move quickly. They look more like soldiers than bandits."

"Soldier?" Yin Chengyu raised his eyebrows. The events of the past few days were swirling in his mind, and gradually a clear trend was listed: "Are you here for me?"

Xue Shu nodded, his thin lips pursed into a cold and hard arc.

If they were regular soldiers, there was no way they would attack the city so brazenly. Then there was only one answer: these well-trained soldiers were private soldiers.

Raising private soldiers is a serious crime and it is definitely not something that ordinary people can afford.

In the Huguang area, or in Wuchang Prefecture, there is only one family that can afford to raise private soldiers and has the courage to do so.

"Go to Zhou's house." Yin Chengyu said without hesitation.

When the shouts of killing shook the city, Zhou Zhiling was not asleep either.

When the Zhou family's servants heard the commotion, they were in chaos. Because there was no master to discipline them, the slaves and even the women in the backyard all fled in all directions.

In the study room, where only a dimly lit lamp was burning, Zhou Zhiling was pacing anxiously, completely ignoring the messy backyard.

"Is it successful? Why haven't you sent me any news yet?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? How can a rich man who can't carry anything fly?" The one who spoke was the big man sitting opposite Zhou Zhiling. His face was covered by a thick beard, and his well-defined muscles couldn't even be covered by armor. At this time, he sat in the shadow with his legs crossed, looking a bit like an evil-faced Rakshasa.

Zhou Zhiling felt a little relieved when he saw this. He had been friends with Fan Hu for a long time and naturally believed in his abilities.

However, he still felt somewhat uneasy in his heart, and said hesitantly: "The eunuch Xue Shu beside the prince is not a good person. He seems to be the supervisor of the East Factory, but the letter from the master did not mention this person..."

Thinking of Xue Shu's drastic measures in dealing with Wen Dadong's family, he shuddered and his heart, which had just been somewhat at ease, rose again.

"He's just a eunuch. No matter how powerful he is, how powerful can he be?" Fan Hu had never met Xue Shu, so he was quite dismissive.

But Zhou Zhiling had seen the eunuch's cruel methods, but he didn't know how to explain the pros and cons to Fan Hu. He couldn't help but stand up and turn around a few times. After thinking about it, he still felt that Xue Shu should not be underestimated. He turned around and said, "Brother Fan, you must not -"

Before he could finish his words, they were stuck in his throat.

Zhou Zhiling's eyes widened in horror, his gaze fixed on the back of Fan Hu. He was so frightened that he could only make a "ho ho" sound.

Fan Hu saw his expression and asked in confusion: "Brother Zhou, have you seen a ghost?"

"..." Zhou Zhiling's heart tightened, but he couldn't utter a word. He just raised his hand in fear and pointed behind him with trembling hands.

Behind, behind!

Fan Hu finally realized that something was wrong and was about to turn around to look, but unexpectedly he felt an extremely thin and strong iron wire wrapped around his neck, twisting and tightening.

Xue Shu performed this set of movements very smoothly. Fan Hu, who was as big as a hill, rolled his eyes and kicked his legs, but in a moment he died completely, with his tongue sticking out.

Zhou Zhiling, who witnessed this scene with his own eyes, was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground and couldn't even scream.

Xue Shu glanced at him with contempt, put away the wire, and casually pulled out the tablecloth covering the coffee table and covered Fan Hu's hideous body with it.

After doing all this, he walked to the door, opened it and welcomed Yin Chengyu who was waiting outside in.

“It’s all been taken care of.”